The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-07-22

once9 l said, in my natural lndlgna-
| ton. "Good CAD, sir, the place is, per-
haps, infestedr'
Don't excite yourself" replied
Campbell, ''it's my fault; get them in
my work
| "Good graciousr' was all I could ut
| ter in my horror and establishment;
and then did a very stupid thing-I
manifested curiosity. At the Rice and
Curry to manifest curiosity in any
thing whatsoever is looked upon as the
very worst of bad form.
'Ah, ! said, interrogatively, ''you
60 in for old furniture and things of
that sort, eh?''
NO" said Campbell II bring them
from the East End. y
/ looked round the room for wit
ness to this horrible confession. Talk
of disturbing influences! Here was a
man who boosted in cold blood that he
brought disturbing influences of the
most abominable kind into the club
smoking-room. For once in my life
my diffidence vanished. / felt that /
was called upon to perform a duty,
that the eyes of the fourteen hundred
and ninety-eight other members would
look to me to do that duty, and / in
stantly determined to summon a gen.
eral meeting, and to propose Camp
bells immediate expulsion.
500 you feel any interest in my
workP' said he, suayely.
This was the last straw. Irose to my
feet.
mo, sir" said, with just indigna-
ton. Il look upon your conduct as
abominable and disgusting. / can on
~ hope, sir, that you are insane"
Here | thought of Wugsby and Raying
Madness.
''Then you approve the opium taxp"
said he, quite calmly.
He was evidently mad; he could not
have been drinking, for he had been
under my observation for at least two
hours. Perhaps he was mystifer or
fool; to me the terms are synon-
ymous.
81 fancy we are playing at cross pur-
poses, he added, after pause. ''The
fact is that l go daily among the Chi
nese at the East End, in whom 1 take
a great interest, and what you have
seen is one of the inevitable drawbacks
to my occupation
Like all enthusiasts, once started on
his hobby. he proceeded to ride it to
death. He explained to me that by
our system of fostering the opium in
dustry in India we were causing yearly
the death and moral ruin of thousands
of intelligent Chinese. He dilated
upon the subject for at least an hour,
and then he launched out upon the
destitute condition of the large Chinese
colony at the East end of London. l
tried to get away several times, but in
effectually. At last he succeeded in
communicating to me a portion-a
very small portion-of his own en-
thusiasm. He painted terrible pict-
ure of John Chinaman in London,
homeless, penniless, friendless, hope
less, possessed body and soul by the
opium dend, spending his hard-earned
coppers in sordid dens upon the fatal
drug, which was to assuredly repay his
infatuation by gradually stealing away
his health, his brains, and at last his
life. He fairly made my flesh creep.
"My dear fellow" he said, "there is
no time like the present; come and see
for yourself. "
resisted, but in vain. have said |
am diffident. fear have no strength
of mind. l never can say no. | could
not say no to Campbell. 1t was ten
o'clock at night. He got me down
stairs. 1t was an awful night. In a
hanson cab he dragged me to the
most dreadful of the dreadful slums ct
the East end of London. Such sordid
misery as / saw there 1 had never even
dreamed of.
am not going to infiict upon you a
long description of an opium den; that
has been done before by the master
hand, and has been attempted over
and over again by puny imitators.
There lay John Chinaman enjoying
his poison. A common china ink-bot-
tie and bit of bamboo formed his
pipe. The ink-bottle had hole in the
side, on which the treacly-looking
drug was carefully smeared, then it
was lighted. John smoked a few
whiffs in evident ecstacy, and then
John died, or at least appeared to do so.
Opium-smoking John was miserable
object; he was lean, sickly-looking, a
melancholy wight.
"It's very dreadful, isn't itP" said
Campbell. II mustn't let this oppor-
tunity slip. You are doctor. l
want to see what it's like. 1t isn't
mere curiosity l feel; it's sort of
melancholy duty. Now you're here,
I'll get you to watch over me"
Of what new absurdity was Campbell
about to be guiltyP 1t was bad enough
that he should bring unpleasant proofs
of his philanthropy to that peaceful
place, the Rice and Curry Club; it.was
worse that he should drag me, pro-
fessional man, gratuitously-that was
the extra sting to it-and in the middle
of the night, to an abominable Chinese
den at the East end of London. But
now he put climax to his wickedness
by asking me to watch over him, as if
l were guardian angel. never felt
less like a guardian angel in my life.
l was about to Indignantly refuse
81 sent away the cab,' said Camp
bell, coolly.
Horror! we were then to stop here
till morning! for there was certainly
no getting away from the place except
in cab. / had recently seen the
''Romany Rye" and the awful horrors
of the East end of London at midnight
were fresh in my mind. Who knows
but that had been decoyed here by
Campbell? He might be my illegiti-